"That is a nice Christian feeling, I must say," retorted Carrington uneasily. "Men such as you are, who go about attempting murder, should be locked up," was the stern reply. "You intended to kill me." "I did not. I intended to stun you, and thought I had done so," protested Carrington sullenly. "No one was more astonished than I was, when I heard next day from Hendle there that you were dead. I thought the heart disease had killed you." "I had no heart disease, and----" "We know all about that," interrupted Mallien restlessly. "But tell us how that scoundrel managed to knock you down." "Give me another dose of brandy, Tobias," said the vicar, and when he felt stronger after taking the spirit proceeded slowly to explain. "I was in my study on that night, and as it was after ten o'clock, Mr. and Mrs. Jabber had retired to rest. I had found the will, which I had mislaid, and was reading it, when I heard a tap at the window." "I don't know about your reading it," said Carrington insolently, "as I watched you for some time through the window before I tapped. You were holding a parchment over a candle. I believe that you intended to burn the will." "Perhaps I did," said the vicar with a queer smile. "There is more to be known about that will than you guess. At all events when I heard your tapping on the glass I blew out the candle and put down the will. I opened the window--you know it is a French window, Hendle--and looked out to see who had come at such an untimely hour. When I recognized you and you intimated that you wished to speak to me, I admitted you. I believed that you had come down to stay with Hendle and had arrived late." "Did you lock the window again after admitting Carrington?" asked Rupert. "I snicked it, certainly," replied Leigh quietly. "Not that doing so mattered, for, as there was nothing to steal at the vicarage, I paid little attention to bolts and bars." Carrington laughed cynically. "And for that reason I was able to slip out of the front door and leave it unlocked without exciting suspicion," he remarked. "It was easy to get away." "Very easy," assented Mr. Leigh. "The front door was never locked either by day or by night, as I did not fear burglars. And I did not fear you, Mr. Carrington, as you said that Rupert had told you about the will, and you wished to speak to me concerning it." "Oh, you were brave enough," retorted the barrister carelessly. "Well?" "I think you had better be less flippant, my man," cried Mallien, highly indignant. "You are not out of the woods yet." "There's gratitude for what I have done for you," sneered Carrington. "But for my appearance at the window the vicar might have burned the will so as to allow Hendle to keep the property." "Yes, I might have burnt the will, as you say," remarked Leigh with another queer smile; "and perhaps it would have been as well, seeing what an excellent Squire our young friend here makes." "And what about me?" asked Mallien indignantly.